Well we finally got to go on a trip with the local Jeep club here at the RV park. The destination was near the community of Swall Meadows near Tom’s place. There were eight vehicles in total on this day. Unfortunately, while ascending the first steep section of dirt road we noticed the engine temperature was very high and when the group stopped to rest it was steaming pretty bad. I raised the hood to let it cool and a few seconds later got hit with a blast of hot antifreeze as the recovery tank exploded.

Since there was nothing we could do at that point we decided to ride with someone else to the destination point. We didn’t quite make it all the way because the road got too rough for some of the vehicles. We ended up having a cookout at a spot near the road.

Postscript: I ended up having to replace the thermostat and the recovery tank and Mr. Cherokee is running fine. Also the heater started working which was a plus.